4,23,952 voters' names in Pune constituency deleted by officials

Activists infer from state election commission’s website that one-fourth of genuine voters in the constituency could not exercise their franchise as their names were missing from voter lists, leading them to protest across the city

In a disheartening revelation, names of as many as 4,23,952 voters had been deleted by the district election department from Pune city area. During and after Thursday’s Lok Sabha polling in the city, thousands of voters came out to protest after their names vanished from voter lists despite their record of regular voting.

Ink and ire: Angry citizens complain that they couldn’t cast the ballot despite having voter IDs. Pic/Mohan Patil

Many Right to Information (RTI) activists claim that most were genuine voters, and are now contemplating legal action against poll officers. The officials, though, said that adequate precautions were before deleting names. Vijay Kumbhar, an RTI activist, claimed that after his demand, state election commission on Saturday published the lists of voters whose names had been deleted in 2013 and 2014. As per this list, 4,23,952 names of Pune Lok Sabha constituency’s total of 18.32 lakh voters, had been deleted.

Elbowed out: Citizens come out to protest their missing names, on polling day. File Pic

Assuming the activists’ claim that most were genuine to be true, the figure dictates that around 25 per cent Punekars could not cast their vote on Thursday. “Initially this figure of deleted voters was 1,08,000. But the data published by state election commission on its website on Saturday says that the actual figure is 4,23,952. The election officials kept lakhs of voters in the city in dark while deleting their names,” Kumbhar said.

At first, the state election commission had published deletion figures for both 2013 and 2014. But by Sunday evening, the list of 2013 abruptly vanished from the website, leaving only a fraction of the original deletion figure from 2014. “Fortunately I had gathered data of all six constituencies in Pune city on Saturday itself,” Kumbhar said. Some activists are seeking legal opinions whether a PIL can be filed in the Bombay High Court.

Another activist, Anita Shamani, who has complied data of around 5000 citizens who had not voted, said, “As the model code is in effect we right now can’t file a PIL. But once the elections in the state get over on April 24, we will approach the Bombay High Court, seeking answers to why and how lakhs of people could not cast their vote. It is shocking that in Pune city itself, over four lakh people were denied their vote. Even if we consider that 50 per cent of these are genuine, the figure is still huge.”

Deepak Bharadia of Volunteer for a Better India said, “Generating data of all the voters who could not cast their votes — to the extent possible — should be the first step before approaching the EC.”

Poll officials say
District Deputy Election Officer Apoorva Wankhede, however, was unable to accept that so many genuine names were deleted by her staff. “I don’t have the exact data but I think it should not be more that 2-2.5 lakh names,” Wankhede said.

Informed that the source of the humongous figure is nothing but the official website of the state election commission, she said, “It’s the combined data of the last two-three years. If you compare year-wise statistics, the numbers are very less in 2014 compared to past years.”

She added, “With consistent efforts we have ensured that bogus names get deleted. In many cases, names of voters remain on lists even after their death or a change in addresses. So drives for deleting names are equally important.”
However, the district’s top election official admitted that the 8,000 block level officers (BLO) may have erred by deleting names of genuine voters. “As many as 8,000 BLOs were involved in updating voter lists. I cannot say that all had worked honestly. We have to take into consideration the element of human error,” Wankhede said.

Asked to elaborate, she said some officers may not have gone through the trouble of personally cross-checking with voters before hitting delete. “BLOs include government employees from various departments. Though it is expected of a BLO to visit every home allotted to them before deleting any name on grounds like change of address, there is a possibility that some may have updated it while sitting at home.”

Adding, however, that voters were equally responsible, Wankhede said, “All educated voters, who are now complaining, had not taken any efforts in the past. Rather, when BLOs tried to visit them at their homes, they did not entertain them at all.”

Rs 18.32lakh Total number of voters in Pune Lok Sabha constituency

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